An Open Letter to the Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP
Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is?

Dear Mr. Cameron,

I was delighted your party's banking white paper published this week said bank charges were unfair, to quote: "There have been numerous examples of unfair treatment of consumers – the misselling of payment protection insurance and unfair bank charges."

It's the first time I've seen any major party say this. The only shame is it's too late by three years, 593,156 PPI reclaiming & 6,126,175 bank charges reclaiming template letters, and up to £2 billion of payouts.

It was back in the early days when people really needed your help, then bank accounts were being forced shut, and customers who attempted to reclaim were mistreated.

Forgive my slight scepticism that it's no surprise to see the political elite calling these charges unfair now banks have become bogeymen, and we're near victorious at the final test case stage at the House of Lords.

A challenge to you

So I want to ask you to support an act of real political bravery... these unlawful bank charges were taken from people's accounts without asking. No other companies have the power to take our cash in this way; if your energy supplier has a dispute with you, it needs to go to court to get the money.

So surely, once it's finally legally decided they’re unfair, it's only right for everyone who’s had bank charges to automatically be paid back the money without needing to ask for it?

Yes, it will cost. Perhaps £3 billion to £5 billion, but this is about justice, and with the nation’s finances in such a dire state, what better way to immediately stimulate the economy than putting this money back into real people’s hands?

Yet another Savings Boost! Now 3.3% AER Easy Access (min £1,000). Updated ArticleThere's yet another crop of new best buys, allowing you to get nearly 7x the base rate with easy access. 3.3% but limited withdrawals. The good news is Coventry BS now pays 3.3% AER variable (min £1,000) including a year's 1.3% bonus. The bad, it only permits four penalty-free withdrawals annually of at least £1,000 each, plus it's operated by post. 3.15% no restrictions: The Alliance & Leicester*Online Saver, pays 3.15% AER variable (min £1) including a 2.65% year-long bonus; withdrawals are permitted any time no notice needed. Alternatively B'ham MidsTelephone Extra pays an identical rate. All these accounts have the full £50,000 UK savings safety protection. Full info & more best-buys inc. top guaranteed accounts and 5% fixed rates in the Updated Guide:Top SavingsRelated: Safe Savings, Top ISAs

Service Charge Reclaiming. One MoneySaver got £400 back... can you? A London-based MoneySaver says the managing agent of her leasehold flat kept over £400 in service charges from her, as her estimated bills were too high for three years and no refund came. She's reclaimed the money. Can you reclaim? Frankly we don't know if this is a one off or not. So we want people to check their service charges; if it's a widespread problem we'll launch a full reclaim campaign. Full info in the Forum Note:Service Charge Reclaiming

Cheapest Dongle! 5GB mobile broadband at £11/mth; or 1GB for £4.24 via cashback
For those who want broadband on the go for laptops, two cracking new mobile dongle 18 month contract deals. Big download limit: You can get 25% off 5GB 3 Mobile broadband by going via SimplifyDigital* and entering the code AFF09 when at the checkout, making it a market leading £11/month. Smaller data cap: For those likely to download less, Orange's cheapest mobile broadband package is currently reduced to £9.79/mth with a 1GB download limit, yet up to £100 cashback's available via special cashback websites. Incorporate this and it's effectively £4.24 a month. Full details in the Updated Guide:Cheap Mobile Broadband. If you're new to cashback read the Top Cashback Sites guide.

Q. My flat has a pre-payment meter from the last tenants. Our energy bills are terribly expensive because of this. Is there anything I can do?

A. The fact people on prepayment meters have to pay more is ridiculous, it penalises many of society's poorest - thankfully there's a lot of campaigning at the moment for this to change.

If you're hit, first try to switch to a standard billed meter with your current supplier, though this will usually mean you're credit scored (see credit rating guide). If you're accepted, once it's up and running, then do a comparison to find who the cheapest supplier is (see Gas & Elec guide).

If you can't get a billed meter, don't think you're stuck with just one supplier, while it's limited there is competition amongst prepayment suppliers, both Energyhelpline* or Uswitch* do comparisons.

I have a "menial wrist"! That's it for this week. As I'm suffering from a harsh bout of RSI, this anagram site's top result amazed me with its aptness. Great for scrabble!

PS. Thanks for all the kind notes, tips and suggestions about my RSI, very kind. I'm swamped with them though, and for obvious reasons clicking & replying isn't easy. So sorry if you don't get one.

We hope you save some money

Martin & the MSE team

Explanation of * Links

FSA NOTE: Referring people to insurers or insurance intermediaries can in some circumstances require FSA authorisation. For this reason, Martin Lewis of Shepherd's Studios, Rockley Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W14 0EH is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

How this site is financed. Any links with a * by
them are affiliated. That means go via this link and a contribution may be made
to MoneySavingExpert.com, which helps it stay ad-free and free to use. You
shouldn't notice any difference, the links don't impact the product at all and
the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by it. If it isn't
possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it's still included in
exactly the same way. As I believe transparency is important, I'm including the
following 'un-affiliated' web-addresses for the same things: alliance-leicester.co.uk, tescofinance.com, energyhelpline.com, moneysupermarket.com, uswitch.com, simplyswitch.com, simplifydigital.co.uk, uk.virginmoney.com, firstdirect.com, halifax.co.uk, americanexpress.co.uk, plus.net, gocompare.com. Read more about this in how this site is financed.

MoneySavingExpert.com is the free to use Consumer Revenge website focused on how to save you cash. It’s owned, and run by ultra-specialised journalist and bestselling author Martin Lewis. On TV amongst other things Martin is GMTV’s Money SavingExpert and presents money programmes for ITV1 Tonight. On Radio Martin has regular slots on Radio 2 Vine and Radio 1 Whiley. He’s also a columnist for the News of The World, Moneywise and the Sunday Post. Find out more: About the site and its funding.

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